Lost and Found Mr. Right

Zara glanced at the time on the laptop screen in front of her, she was trying to finish up on her proposal before she left work and she had a date at 7 pm. She gasped as she realized it was 6:40 already, with the traffic it might take her 30 minutes to get to the bar. She had just gotten off the phone with her mother who was hell-bent on another one of her matchmaking quests and the cause of her current time issues. She felt emotionally exhausted. Her words kept ringing in her ears, “maybe it is time to find the right man and settle down”. She did agree with her this time. Although nothing was different, nothing had changed. The world was still crazy, men were still freaky, adulthood was a huge scam and for one, she still had a bad relationship with commitment. She had this feeling all she needed to do was just make up her mind, find the right person, and do it. That is a start. Now that leads to the bigger question, Is there a right person? Is she right herself?

She had lived long enough to learn that human beings come in all shapes and sizes, with unique traits and features but still have most things in common. Habits, behaviors, thoughts, needs…of most human beings are the same, yet everyone manages to maintain their individuality and flaws. So how do you know who is right for you and who you are right for? Do you get just one Mr. Right in a lifetime? Is it all a gamble? Who has all the answers this question, Zara was still wondering, as a beep from her phone snapped her out of her thoughts.

She shut her laptop, and shoved it in the laptop bag, picked up her bag from the couch and dashed out of her office. Her phone started to ring as she got in the car, she cursed loudly as she rummaged through the bag to find it with no success. She finally found it after it stopped ringing as she started the car. It was a call from her date, Dave. She had no interest in going on another blind date, but she couldn’t get out of this one, she had to keep a promise to a good friend. She muttered about the things you do for the sake of friendship as she drove out into the road as she tried to call him back.

The thought about finding Mr. Right came to her mind again. Maybe Dave could be her Mr. Right, but her mind did not agree with it her as she was picturing a different person. She smiled as she thought about him. Of course, it figures she already had her Mr. Right and lost him. They had met in her second year at the university. Gerald, she called him Gee for short. He had the most beautiful smile she had ever seen. He had only one adorable dimple on his right cheek that deepened whenever he smiled though with time it got hidden when he grew beards. Zara remembered digging her fingers through the beards to find the dimple whenever he smiled. She and Gerald dated for two years. She was in her second year studying Economics while he was a fourth-year Medicine student. His father was the Dean of Student Affairs who he never approved of her relationship with Gee. Zara was a carefree student; she was raised by a single mother who believed so much in women empowerment which reflected so much on her daughter. She was too opinionated, She had tattoos, she smoked, and she was overconfident it bordered on arrogant, but that was why Gee was crazy about her and why his father did not approve of her.

Her personality gained her lots of friends. She was in groups that fought for students’ rights, she was quite popular. At a point, she thought about switching to political science but after giving it much thought, decided to stick with Economics.  During one of the student rallies in her final year that she dragged Gee to, some cultists had a dispute which turned violent, they were caught in the crossfire and Gee was shot in the chest. They had rushed him to the hospital, but his condition was critical, so his father made urgent arrangements and flew him out of the country. All efforts Zara made to reach Gee on the phone and through the family deemed futile. The last time she called, her father told her that she had killed their son and never to call again if she wanted to graduate.

She had learned his family relocated when she came to take her to call up letter for youth service a year later. That was ten years ago.  She thought about Gee every time, she even searched for him on Facebook and all other social networking sites she could think of, but she never found him.  She was still lost in thoughts when the car in front of her came to a halt suddenly forcing her to match on the brakes forcefully as she snapped out of her thoughts. She needed to focus more she thought again, as she switched on the radio and increased the volume to a full blast to keep her from going down memory lane yet again today. Something must be wrong with her, maybe hormones and too much caffeine.

She got to the restaurant and parked the car, she felt like having a quick smoke before going into the bar. She was only 10mins late, thanks to the alternative route. She dug through her bag for a pack of cigarettes, but it was not there. She remembered she had seen a cigarette vendor on her way in, she just had to quickly dash outside and buy one.  She called Dave to say she was there, and she will be in shortly. She fixed her hair in the car and re-applied her lipstick. She had always been a pretty girl, with her naturally curly hair and dark brown eyes, she did not wear much makeup.

She walked back to the street and around the corner where she had seen the vendor. She rummaged through her bag for money and looked up to give the money she found to the vendor but someone else caught her eyes on the other side of the street. He was looking at her, wearing that same smile she could never forget. Then he crossed the street and started walking towards her. She did a double-take, money forgotten in her outstretched hand, she took a step back, her mouth open in shock. It was Gee, he looked more handsome than she remembered. She could swear he whispered her name as he approached. The smile never left his face, she could bet his dimples were somewhere underneath those beards, he still wore them, she realized. She made him grow them. She could not believe it, she thought he was dead, but there he was, right in front of her, on the street, smiling at her, like he had been there all along and all she wanted to do was punch him in the face.